It was a grand success again...ten very good teams were on display for St Louis to enjoy. The buzz afterwards was about Marian Catholic of Chicago. They came in and dismantled the defending Class 5 Champion of Missouri-Rock Bridge 54-38. Going 11-12 deep, one outstanding athlete after another came in to pressure the ball, run, share the ball on offense, pound the boards. Parkway South woke up many local observers as they upended #5 State Ranked, Ozark 59-49. The Lady Patriots demonstrated a strong inside and outside presence. Dexter took another step towards preparing themselves for Columbia by toppling a talented, unheralded Webster Groves team 48-41. St Joe ran by Carthage as the perimter players burned the bottom of the nets from beyond the arc and the two inside players scored around 20 points as they won 62-37. The defending class 4 champs, Republic put on a clinic on fundamentals and whipped a weary Westminster team(4th game of the week) 59-40. Watch replays of any or all of the games. Each game has its own link.

...Football Bowl Games...

By stringing them out day by day, I'm was wondering if the organizers were trying to reach the beginning of Spring Training? Footnote.. after the Bowl games, 4 teams finished with 6-7 records. Mediocrity reigns in many bowls.

...Living right...

Sam Turner (Bernie HS) hit a 65 foot shot at the buzzer that was the difference in the 69-66 win over Advance. The Mules had seen their comfortable 53-43 3rd quarter lead evaporate when Turner hit the 65 footer. Bernie is now 12-1 for the year.

...On Cloud NINE...

Holcomb (9-3) is ranked #6 in Class 2 STATE rankings. This is the first time EVER that a Hornet team has ever been STATE ranked! Congrats!

....Speed Kills Category...

..Sugar Bowl...

I didn't watch many of the 32 bowl games...I do have a life. Anyway, I did see the Oregon Ducks and Louisville Cardinals destroy opponets with their tremendous speed. Louisville embarrassed the Florida Gators 33-23. I thought that the teams had mistakenly put on the wrong jerseys, Louisville ran past, around, by the much slower Gators. Of course, the Louisville coach (who was past up for Flordia job) didn't need any extra motivation.

...Fiesta Bowl..

Oregon sure is fun to watch.. a play every 12-15 seconds (our "instant Americana loves this), creative looking offenses and defenses. Oregon just too quick for the well-drilled K-State Wildcats

...Cotton Bowl..

Johnny Manziel-WOW! Looks like he's playing against his little brother. He throws where he wants, outruns the pursuit. AM gave OU a lesson. The former Big-12 schools had a tough December.

N. Illinois just couldn't play with Florida State. I was interested in watching a local boy(CBC grad)-Andrew Ness who was the starting Center for N. Illinois.

...This is a new one....

Usually, we don't hear about Individual Defense in basketball. In an OT game (which looked like it was going 2-OT), Scott City's Eric Urhahn knocked the ball away from a Chaffe ballhandler, who was looking to tie the game, raced after the ball, grabbed it on the floor and called an immediate timeout to preserve possession. (Almost always when the ball hits the floor, its a jump ball.) Urhahn's quick feet and wit, was a key component of the Scott City 73-67 win over Chaffee.

..Current leading scorer in St Louis for boys basketball...go ahead, give it to me...I doubt that many of you could tell me Chaz Glotta of Ft Zumwalt North. He's averaging 29.3 ppg.

..Upset of the Week...

Despite similar records, it was viewed as an upset as Lee Summit North(7-2) topped Lee Summit West(8-2) 49-44. North bounced back from a 27-15 halftime deficit to pull out the win over their intra-district rival. Tyler Harrison led North with 19 points.

....Take it to the Bank...

...I've never done this type of predicting previously but....IWA looks like a sure bet to be wearing the class 4 Girls Crown of Missouri this year.

...Columbia is home to TWO top Girls teams...

We've already talked about Rock Bridge but what about Hickman?

The Lady Kewpies (11-1) held a narrow 13-11 lead over a solid Benton team (Champions of the STATE Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational) when the explosion came! The Kewpies scored the next 11 points on their way to a 49-27 victory.

...Winning a Double-header in basketball?

Sturgeon HS basketball won both championship games of the New Franklin Tournament! The Boys led by Spencer Kelly's sudden, unexpected return to the lineup pushed aside Tipton 47-43. Kelly had missed the previous game with his leg in a walking cast but his return (and 16 points) made the Boys record 8-3. Meanwhile, the Girls won their 4th New Franklin Title by pressuring the host school into 20 turnovers on route to a 47-31 win. The Lady Bulldogs, often a STATE finalist team, are now 9-1 for the year.

...Not so Golden...

Too much Bama! Alabama had a tremendous line, backs that were bigger and stronger than the LB, a QB who does nothing right(according to all the "experts") but wins every game, a defense that would make it hard for Jack to get out of the Box. Roll Tide!

...Top of Suburban East...

Ladue (10-3) leads the Sub East. The Rams are headed for the Championship Game of the DC Wilcutt Invitational. Prepcasts will VIDEO stream that game on Friday night! Check out the Rams.

...Still unbeaten at 11-0...

No too many teams with perfect records... how about these 2 teams?

...John Burroughs Bombers coming off of a tremendous football season stay perfect at 11-0 in basketball. The Bombers won the Chaminade Christmas Tournament. Foye Oluokun leads the way as he averages a double-double (17 pts-10 reb) for every game.

..on the Girls Side, the Truman Lady Patriots are also 11-0 after swatting away St. Theresa's 65-44. Abby Hix, burned the St Theresa's zone by knocking down four 3-balls in the 2nd quarter!